Gattaca (1997)

Ethan Hawke: Vincent, Jerome

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Vincent : You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.

• [last lines] 

  Vincent : [voiceover]  For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving... maybe I'm going home.

• Vincent : What's this?

  Dr. Lamar : New policy, what's the matter? Flight got you nervous.

  Vincent : Nope, there's a problem Lamar...

  Dr. Lamar : ...I still haven't told you about my son, have I? He's a big fan of yours...

  Vincent : Just remember. I was as good as any, and better than most...

  Dr. Lamar : ...He wants to apply here...

  Vincent : ...I could've gone up and back and nobody would've been the wiser...

  Dr. Lamar : ...unfortunately my son's not all that they promised. But then again, who knows what he could do.

  [test reveals Vincent as invalid] 

  Dr. Lamar : For future reference, right-handed men don't hold it with their left. Just one of those things.

  [Lamar hits button revealing Jerome's valid i.d] 

  Vincent : [Vincent stares into Lamar's eyes, hesitating] 

  Dr. Lamar : You're gonna miss your flight, Vincent.

• Vincent : I don't know how to thank you.

  Jerome : No, no. I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body. You lent me your dream.

• Anton Freeman : Vincent! How are you doing this Vincent? How have you done any of this? We have to go back.

  Vincent : It's too late for that. We're closer to the other side.

  Anton Freeman : What other side? You wanna drown us both?

  Vincent : You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.

• Vincent : There's no gene for fate.

• Vincent : How the hell did you get up here?

  Jerome : Oh, I could always walk... I've been faking it.

• Vincent : They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore.

• Vincent : I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal than when I was standing right beside it.

• [Irene has discovered Vincent's secret] 

  Irene : I don't even know who you are.

  Vincent : I'm the same person I was yesterday.

  Irene : I can't hear any more of your lies Jerome...

  Vincent : My name is Vincent, all right? Vincent Anton Freeman, and I'm a "faith birth" or a "de-gene-erate", whatever you want to call it; but I am NOT a murderer!

  Irene : You're a "God-child"?

  Vincent : [takes Irene's hand and places over his heart]  But we do have one thing in common, only I don't have twenty or thirty years left in mine. Mine is already ten thousand beats overdue.

  Irene : It's not possible.

  Vincent : You are the authority on what is not possible, aren't you Irene? They've got you looking for any flaw, that after a while that's all you see. For what it's worth, I'm here to tell you that it is possible. It is possible.

• Vincent : It's funny, you work so hard, you do everything you can to get away from a place, and when you finally get your chance to leave, you find a reason to stay.

• Vincent : Is the only way you can succeed is to see me fail?

• [Vincent is looking at the 12-fingered pianist] 

  Irene : You didn't know?

  Vincent : Oh, I knew.

  Irene : It's amazing, isn't it?

  Vincent : Twelve fingers or one, it's how you play

  Irene : That piece can only be played with twelve.

• [Scene of a beach at sunset] 

  Vincent : [narrating]  I was conceived in the Riviera.

  [Camera pans down to reveal Vincent's parents beginning to make love in the back of a Buick Riviera parked by the beach] 

  Vincent : Not the French Riviera, the Detroit variety.

• Vincent : There's more vodka in this piss than there is piss.

• Vincent : A year is a long time.

  Irene : Not so long. Just once around the sun.

• [During his transformation into "Jerome"] 

  German : There's still the matter of your height.

  Vincent : How tall are you?

  Jerome : 4'6"

  Vincent : I meant before your accident.

• Irene : How many launches are there each day, Vincent? A dozen?

  Vincent : Sometimes more.

  Irene : You're the only one that watches all of them. If you're going to pretend like you don't care, don't look up.

• Vincent : Blood has no nationality

• Vincent : They think I killed the mission director.

  Jerome : What makes you think that?

  Vincent : They found my eye lash.

  Jerome : Where?

  Vincent : In the corridor.

  Jerome : Ah well it could be worse. They could have found it in your eye.

• [first lines] 

  Director Josef : You keep your work station so clean, Jerome.

  Vincent : It's next to godliness. Isn't that what they say?

  Director Josef : Godliness. I reviewed your flight plan. Not one error in a million keystrokes. Phenomenal. It's right that someone like you is taking us to Titan.

  Vincent : Has the committee approved the mission? There's been talk of delay.

  Director Josef : You shouldn't listen to talk. You leave in a week. You've got a substance test.

• [Vincent is applying for employment at Gattaca. He has supplied a urine sample for analysis. When Dr. Lamar puts the sample into a genetic analyzer, the machine identifies it as "VALID", "MORROW, JEROME", "011010100-09564"] 

  Dr. Lamar : Congratulations.

  Vincent : Well, what about the interview?

  Dr. Lamar : That was it.

• Vincent : [narrating]  I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science.

• Caesar : Don't clean the glass too well.

  Vincent : Why's that?

  Caesar : You might get ideas.

• Irene : I have this crazy idea you're more interested in the murder case than me.

  Vincent : You're right. That's crazy.

• Vincent : I'm sorry, the wind caught it...

• Vincent : He had everything except desire.

• Vincent : I can't go anywhere without seeing my own face. They'll recognize me.

  Jerome : They won't recognize you.

  Vincent : They'll recognize me.

  Jerome : I don't recognize you.

• [Anton confronts Vincent at Gattaca Aerospace] 

  Vincent : What are you doing here, Anton?

  Anton Freeman : I should ask *you* that question. I have a right to be here. You don't.

  Vincent : Heh! You almost sound as if you believe that. I committed no murder. You must be disappointed.

  Anton Freeman : You've committed *fraud*. Listen, you're in a lot of trouble, Vincent. I can get you out of here...

  Vincent : Do you have any idea what it took to get IN here?

• Dr. Lamar : Jerome, never shy, pisses on command. Beautiful piece of equipment you've got there, Jerome. I ever told you that?

  Vincent : Only every time I'm in here.

  Dr. Lamar : Occupational hazard. I see a great many on the course of any given day. Yours just happens to be an exceptional example. Don't know why my folks didn't order one like that for me.

• Vincent : I'll never understand what possessed my mother to put her faith in God's hands, rather than her local geneticist.

• Vincent : We shed 500 million cells a day.

• Dr. Lamar : You go up next week. Please tell me you're the least bit excited.

  Vincent : I'll tell you at the end of the week

• Vincent : No, there's truly nothing remarkable about the progress of Jerome Morrow...

  Vincent : Except that I am *not* Jerome Morrow.

• German : You serious about this? I hope you're not wasting my time.

  Vincent : No, I... I'd give 100 percent.

  German : That'll get you half way there.

• Vincent : [after Vincent's genetic test]  What about the interview?

  Dr. Lamar : That was it.